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FLEMING ISLAND — The Clay County School Board will consider amending the district’s purchasing policy to rein in Superintendent Charlie Van Zant Jr.’s authority to spend money without first notifying the panel so it can decide whether to approve the funding.

The board voted 4-1 with member Johnna McKinnon dissenting Thursday night to advertise the proposed amendment for a public hearing during its April 17 meeting.

Van Zant didn’t comment, nor did McKinnon say why she was dissenting.

Under current policy, the superintendent can spend up to $7,999 without prior approval from the board. Van Zant has previously said that he has acted within his authority as superintendent under state law as well as district policies and practices.

However, the majority of board members – Chairwoman Carol Studdard, Vice Chairwoman Janice Kerekes and member Tina Bullock – have clashed with Van Zant over his spending district funds for consultants and to involve the district with a Dare to Think conference about American Exceptionalism. Among their concerns, Van Zant didn’t first notify the board and members had to hear about it in the community.

As proposed, only the district’s purchasing director could execute purchase orders necessary for the normal day-to-day operations of the school district. Now, both the superintendent and purchasing director have that authority.

The board first would have to review and approve all written contracts, memoranda of understanding, sponsorship or partnership agreements or other agreements of any kind or nature for the hiring of lawyers, consultants, engineers, architects or other professionals. The board also would have to first approve all contracts, requisitions/purchase orders, reservations or leasing documents before the district rents land, buildings, conference halls or other facilities, according to the amendment.

In addition, all out-of-state travel would have to approved in advance by the board, the amendment states.

Studdard submitted the amendment for board consideration. The amendment, she said, wouldn’t hamper school or district operations.

“It is just clarifying and cleaning up some of the [policy] language ,” Studdard said of the amendment intended to define and re-establish the board’s statutory authority in purchasing and contract matters.

It comes in the wake of Van Zant’s previous decisions to hire a consultant for $5,000 to analyze district communications with the public, the hiring of another consultant for $7,500 to help promote the district’s career academies, and his allowing albeit temporarily, $2,037 in district funds to be used to reserve a conference room for the Dare to Think conference.

The reservation money was immediately reimbursed by the conference organizer, a nonprofit organization advocating education reform.

Studdard, Kerekes and Bullock subsequently voted to file an ethics complaint against Van Zant regarding the Dare to Think conference. McKinnon and board member Lisa Graham opposed filing the complaint, which remains under investigation.